Friday, October 5, 2012

The Spring Standards

Welfare

Evan Way (of the Parson Red Heads)

Welfare

Welfare is the perfect Portland band. With a mix of soft,
falsetto-driven dream music, and hard blues/country/indie rock music, this
collaborative effort seeks to connect with people through music and harmonies.
Welfare began in 2010 with song-writer and guitarist Joshua Bassett and drummer
Elliot Aughenbaugh. Soon after, fresh out of college, Ryan Aughenbaugh joined
as the bass player, quickly followed by Dan Bacon on lead guitar. Ryan and Dan
produced Welfare's CD "I'm Gonna Hurt You Anyway" with their production
company 8th Avenue Studios in September 2011. Welfare's goal is to play as much
music as possible for as many people, while meeting and befriending all the
beautiful and wonderful people who, like us, find peace, wisdom, and life in
music. Welfare loves you.

Evan Way (of the Parson Red Heads)

Since moving to Los Angeles from Oregon in the summer of 2005, The Parson Red Heads have worked themselves up to be one of the east side's most prominent live acts with a trio of residencies at Silver Lake Lounge, The Echo and Spaceland. In 2007, their debut full length, King Giraffe found its way on to the airwaves of KCRW where the band performed on the legendary "Morning Becomes Eclectic" as well as other prominent college stations (CMJ Top 200 for 9 weeks). Last year's Owl & Timber EP helped the band get out of California, helping them secure tours with the likes of Blitzen Trapper, Earlimart and Everest behind that release's buzz. Not letting momentum stop, the band is happy to announce their first release on vinyl with the 7" Orangufang.

Centralized around the songwriting of Evan Way (vocals, guitar), The Parson Red Heads are rounded out by his wife Brette Marie Way (drums, vocals), Sam Fowles (guitar, vocals), Aaron Ballard (guitar, vocals) and Andy Creighton (bass, vocals). Orangufang was recorded at Red Rockets Glare (Broken West, Ferraby Lionheart) in Los Angeles and was produced and engineered by sometime Parson, Raymond Richards. The 7" will feature the songs "Raymond" (named after Richards) and recent live favorite "You Can Leave It" as well as a download card so you can get those two tracks and bonus song "Knew A Young Girl" onto your iPod.

"Raymond" and "You Can Leave It" features the bright guitars and layered vocal harmonies that the group is so known for, while "Knew A Young Girl" takes them back to the more acoustic based work they did on 2006's Field Mouse Carnival EP. Special guests include Richards on Pedal Steel and former bass player David Swensen with bass on "You Can Leave It" and trombone on "Raymond". With a tour of California already in place for May, Orangufang will be sure to tide over their fans as the band works on their next full length record.